A Prince's Tale
by PixieGirl17
Summary: Based on the events of Prince Justin before he gets turned into a scarecrow


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Howl's Moving Castle

**A/S: HEY VERY IMPORTANT YOU READ THIS!**

**Okay basically I decided to do a one-shot but there are few things I feel I have to clear up before you read any further. Firstly, I know in the original book series Prince Justin gets engaged and married to someone called Princess Beatrice (sorry for the spoilers for Castle in the Air or anyone who planned to read that) but I have made minor changes in that respect.**

**Also the storyline may drastically change from Felicity (if you read a previous story by me called Shattered Soul you may know about this character) may be a little bit older but I'll probably send out another reminder of this yet again in another story which I'm planning to do regarding her.**

**A Prince's Tale**

For **Tek Sonay**

_A prince isn't supposed to have an unpredictable life. Everyone always thinks they should follow the story-book tradition even if that's gotten a little old now. I never wanted that life and because that I should have known the other negatives with wishing for the opposite of what was expected of me. It was another old tale, sometimes you had to be careful of what you wished for. All these strange things which happened in my life are strangely enough are the most predictable things which ever happened to me. My whole life I had wished and yearned for another life to those in storybooks until it came the point where that was what happened and became something I knew I should expect. After all, the beginning of my life was a little different to the one which I expected, or I should say what other people would have expected. Some people would have thought that if I became King that would be more predictable than becoming a scarecrow. For me, that was something that was just like me to have happen to me. Who would have thought that such a handsome man would become such an ugly, repulsive thing that no one would have affection for? Then again when I was growing up I was always called names and I was picked on at school because there was a time when I was short and pudgy. _

_Not all beautiful people have been that way. Not all princes have always been handsome. If you think about it not many nobles are that attractive. There are more fat ones than athletic ones. There are more repulsive ones than handsome ones. It took me a while before I grew taller and I became the 'dashing Prince' everyone expected me to be. It was a little relief it has to be said but at the same time I didn't like how I was naturally conforming. I was even beginning to wonder at some point whether was I going to end up like so many of the scorned, vengeful younger brothers always trying to push the older ones off the throne. I couldn't imagine wanting the throne to be honest. It was a huge responsibility. Just think about all those reports and legislations or whatever to fill out. Whenever my brother explained it to me it just went over my head. I didn't do politics only battles. That was another thing. I wasn't the 'sensitive' type who secretly wanted to be an artist. I quite liked discussing battle tactics with my brother. I think it was because we spent our whole childhood playing battle and it just stuck and I kept at it. I always thought that something extraordinary was going to happen to me. Something extraordinary not predictable. Nothing like suddenly being put first in line to the throne. Just something else. I always thought, I always hoped that there would be someone out there would see beyond my defects and I would be someone else. _

_I wouldn't be a Prince. I could never really be one. I would just be me. Didn't I deserve at least that? Some people would think I was lucky for my privileges when thy don't know how few freedoms come with it. People would think it funny if I told them that. Sophie would laugh harder than any one if she knew this little secret of mine. She would probably think it was me flirting with her, all things considered. I have to admit I would have liked to have had her as my Princess but things turned out differently to what I expected. I suppose everything isn't supposed to be predictable, then again I wished for that didn't I?_

~ (***) ~

"I won't marry her!" Justin screamed.

"Justin, let's be reasonable about this-"

"I can't marry her." He insisted.

Justin clenched his fists wondering about how he was going to smash his brother into a thousand pieces. He knew it would be an act of treason to kill him but right now, as anyone else would feel if their brother did this to them, he just wanted to kill him in such unimaginable ways that if someone walked in at that moment they would have thought that they had walked into some asylum. He knew he was one day going to be forced into some marriage with a noble or some foreign princess but he always knew that his brother would tell him at least after the third or fourth meeting. He had done this without telling him all too hastily and what was worse was the woman herself. He couldn't have rushed into a decision with a worser woman involved. Her reputation was so notorious that it actually reached the further kingdoms of their own. No prince or king could imagine a worser princess to have betrothed to them. If a father or brother did that to a child or sibling it was a clear sign that opportunistic power and greed outweighed family loyalty. Or that they simply didn't love you. He never thought that he would wake up one morning and go down to breakfast and have it being told to him over after-breakfast coffee. He would have thought that it would be someone he would fall in love with or would be broken to him so gently that it was predictable.

"Brother." The King of Ingary said sternly. "I am only requesting that you marry her for the sake of political unrest between our two countries."

Justin slumped in his chair and narrowed his eyes. So it was for the sake of the country. Oh yeah, that wasn't going to make him feel all the more obligated and guilty about this whole situation was it? There was nothing worse than feeling forced into a marriage for the sake of the welfare of about a few thousand people...

"Is there no other way you can resolve it?" Justin begged.

He had to admit even though he had never met this Princess but he had heard plenty about Princess Tara. She was spoiled and she always fired servants every week for no apparent reason. He had also heard of a nursemaid who had been the only servant who had been able to remain as a result of being able to control her and the fact that she actually indulges in a few of the Princesses faults...

"I'm sorry but it was part of the peace treaty. If I break my promise now then they'll see it as an act of betrayal against it all and will pull us into another way again. Justin, please."

"Why would you even promise them something like that without even consulting me about it?" He demanded.

His brother stared at him as if he was a three-year-old having a temper tantrum. Although most people would probably agree that he was being completely reasonable all things considered. In fact he was keeping it together when he could be going completely psychotic over this and it would still be deemed as an understandable reaction to this situation. This was Princess Tara they were talking about after all. She seriously needed a personality make-over and he didn't even want to think about how he was going to deal with her on a daily basis, if he was to marry her. He could remember even though he had been ridiculed his entire life he could always depend on his brother to come rushing in and saving the day before the bullies could do anything worse. Because of that he always thought that he would be able to trust his brother and now he saw that there was no one for him to depend upon in this world. Everyone just wanted to get as much as they could even at the expense of those you were supposed to love. This was the most unexpected thing to happen between him and his brother. He knew how he was about these things. They always told each other everything and he wasn't sure whether he was going to be able to trust him ever again. He was the first person to know how much he loved his late wife...

"I thought you would be alright with it." The King fumed.

"I would be if you told me about it beforehand! I don't even know anything about-"

That was a lie. He knew everything about her. He knew enough to know that he would hate every moment of his marriage and would be justified in taking up a mistress.

"Oh don't go all dramatic on me. All those of nobility or royalty get married off to each other, all the time." He added. "There is no reason why you should be any different."

"Maybe I don't want to just marry someone-"

"And let me guess what's going to follow after this. You only ever intended to marry for love. Well, brother let me tell you something, even commoners are less lucky in that respect. Hardly anyone marries for that reason nowadays." He dismissed.

Justin saw red. Now this was just hypocritical coming from his brother. He loved his wife and the mother of his infant daughter from the moment he laid eyes on her. He could remember hearing from outside the door as he begged his father to reconsider his previous match.

"You didn't."

This visibly stung the King a little, although Justin knew he had hurt him more than he was showing. After being a King for so long one was able to learn how to hide ones feelings. It was easy once you got the hang of it really.

"That was different." He replied quietly.

The King could remember when she first saw her across the way. He could remember being enraptured not by her bright green eyes or her blonde, flowing hair. It was her laugh. Her laugh seemed to echo across the halls like a birdsong throughout the early hours of the morning.

"Really? Is that what you're going to tell Valeria when she's older? Really?"

"Of course not!" He shot back. "I would never tell her such a thing!"

After the passing of his wife he knew that he would do everything to make sure that the picture she could have of her parents lives together being as bright and wonderful so that she could hope for such a thing one day.

"Then she would probably find it pretty strange to see her uncle in a loveless marriage. Very strange..."

"Oh please, Justin. You were never one to make such threats."

"No. But I suppose I can see now that its definitely something that I've never seen in you...Even though I can now see its something you've had all along..."

~ (***) ~

"So do we have a deal?"

The Witch exhaled sending a puff of smoke in the cloaked man's direction who began to cough uncontrollably making her smirk.

"I don't know darling it seems to me that even you don't have the guts to carry out your own plans...If you can't even take a little smoke how can I expect you to follow through with your own plans. Something like this take a lot of backbone."

The man narrowed his eyes and placed his hands on the table and leaned forward. "If you're thinking of questioning my legitimacy to the throne, _Witch_. You can think again. My family as been well connected to the many thrones of many realms in this world. You have no idea."

The woman rolled her eyes knowing this was a cue for a great grand speech where he was the descendant of some tyrant of a King but he had been overcome by rebels. There was plenty of them around but at least this one paid well...Plus he was also after something that she wanted.

"Really? I can imagine your distantly connected to a few." She replied, sounding incredibly bored.

"I could have been sitting on the throne of Ingary if my Grandfather had not been overthrown by his brother."

She rattled her brains a little through the history of the Kings of the surround Kingdoms which her mother forced her to think through, hoping that she would marry or at least become the mistress one of them. She was sure there were better ways to allure a King than reciting his family tree.

"Of so you're from that family...I heard they had a good reason for chucking him off the throne." She slurred.

"A little genocide is sometimes necessary if you're a King." He dismissed. "Then there is Fermia..."

"Oh yes. I heard that family had been well connected to that country as well. From what I've been hearing you're after that little spot of land as well."

"That's none of your concern. All you have to do is deal with Ingary. All I want you to do is capture Prince Justin. Do what you want _I don't care_."

"Sorry, dear. I think I may need a better reason than that."

The young man leaned back in his chair and took a huge sip of his wine. He knew what she was doing. She was haggling now. She was trying to squeeze out everything that he could possibly give her. All these rebel witches and wizards were the same. They all wanted more than they had.

"Like what, Oranda?"

"Well I wouldn't mind having a little land of my own." She suggested with a grin.

He looked at her for a while and saw the twinkle in her eye. He had seen her without her face shrouded and he had to admit that she was a little bit appealing but that still didn't mean that he was more than willing to make that kind of deal...

He narrowed his eyes. "Are you asking to mar-"

"Oh for goodness sake no." She snapped. "I just think it would be nice if you could be a little...generous with regards to the distribution of your kingdoms."

"Who said I was?"

"Well you are now. Fermia, if you don't mind."

"Why that one in particular?"

She broke the glass of wine to her lips. "Let's just say that I believe a particular woman who is sitting in a certain seat has taken which I think to be my rightful place."

~ (***) ~

Justin stormed out of the castle against the better judgement of his brother and despite all his screams which seemed to be able to travel from the throne room to the gates of the palace.

"This is beyond annoying." He muttered. "Maybe I should skip the country..."

He stormed through the streets of the city probably making anyone who walked past him want to go to the other side of the road because he looked so angry and he was the nice brother.

_I can imagine my brother should be able to find me sooner than I would wish...All he would have to do was follow the trail of petrified citizens..._

In his rage he almost crashed into someone who looked up at him and blinked. She had the brightest eyes he had ever seen and her hair was the same colour which reminded him of wheat.

"Oh I am sorry." He stumbled.

He couldn't believe he was acting like such a pompous fool. He knew the moment she saw him she would probably think him some arrogant Baron or Earl who was 'in a hurry'.

She smiled brightly. "That's quite alright...Aren't you Prince Justin?"

Her green eyes widened in surprise and he knew this would lead him to have to make a polite, customary tip of the hat added with a little bow.

He scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. "Yes, unfortunately."

She tilted her head and gave him a look. "What do you mean by that?"

"You've caught me at a bad moment."

She cast her eyes to the ground which seemed to be shaded with understanding and nodded solemnly.

"I suppose we're both in the same situation...I'm in a hurry." She added when she realised he didn't understand.

"Oh I see."

He didn't really. He couldn't understand why something as simple as being in a hurry would make someone look so sad or worried.

"I'm about to become a hand-maiden and a protégée to the Queen of Fermia. I'm about to go make a house call before I leave."

"Well I hope everything turns out well for you."

"Thank you...You too..."

She walked down the street with Justin staring after her. There was something about her which reminded her of someone...Or maybe she was reminding him of someone he hadn't met yet...

~ (***) ~

Oranda watched the prince stare after the pretty blonde haired girl as she walked away and smirked.

_I suppose it is getting easier to seduce a Prince these days..._

He eventually turned around with a little smirk on his face and she also noted a swing in his step as he spun round and continued to walk down the street.

She rolled her eyes. _Seriously, if all it takes is to be pretty and flicker your eyelashes these days then God knows what women could be capable of doing..._

She changed her shape before stepping out the shadows. She considered taking the apperance of the blonde but she knew she would have to endure seeing him going all puppy-eyed again...

_No thank you..._

She made her way over to him in the form of an old Granny knowing that her plan would work if she took this form...

"Excuse me, dear." She shuffled over to him with pleasant smile on her face. "I was wondering if you could tell me where the station was."

He offered his arm. "I'll take you there, Ma'am. It's right in the direction I'm heading in."

"Oh my...Aren't you sweet?"

"It's not trouble ma'am."

As they walked along he tried to make small talk which she replied with as sweetly as she could but she had to restrain herself from gagging at his behaviour.

_I can't believe women are actually enthralled by this..._

They finally reached a point where the station was in sight and she knew she had to act fast. She spied an alleyway they were about to pass by and before he realised what was happening she pulled him to the side. He turned to her with a look of surprise and covered his eyes chanting a spell under her breath until she was certain he had fallen unconscious.

~ (***) ~

_You know those moments in your life when you just think back and wonder why you didn't see it coming. Every single time I think about that afternoon I can't help but hit my head against a wall or use the closest object to whack myself around the head with. I knew that nothing good was going to come of all this wishing for something which I didn't have. I wanted to be like everyone else. They didn't know it but their lives were so filled with possibilities whereas I had only a few possible career prospects and even fewer when it came to a future wife. Not a future girlfriend. Maybe a mistress. But most definitely a wife. Although I wasn't really thinking about these things specifically that that point. I was more wondering what had led me to ending up in this situation. I don't remember much after that. After that it was a mere blackout. Obviously. All the thinking came afterwards which really seemed to come in the blink of an eye. The next thing I knew I was standing in a field. I thought I must have been dreaming at first considering it would be rather random for me to just suddenly appear in a field. Or I hoped everything else was a dream. The betrothal for one thing. Although it would have been a shame for all that following after to be just a dream...I thought that I had a blackout or something happened in between me from getting to the city to this field. _

_At first I tried to step forward when I found I couldn't even move. At that moment I was almost certain that this was a dream. Although not completely because something just didn't seem right in that logic. I tried waving my arms about. Nothing. It was almost like I wasn't even there. Just imagine thinking that you didn't exist any more. Its a scary thought, which is why I understand why so many people don't think about it, but nonetheless there is no denying that it is a scary thought. I thought this was the dream for a while but soon when the sun rose and I went back to sleep I awoke in the same place. A dream within a dream was a little too far-fetched, I was a realist and my reason was telling me that this wasn't a dream. I looked down at myself and that was when I panicked. I couldn't even see my feet. I just saw thin air. That was when it occurred to me again. Am I real? I soon began to believe that I had ceased to exist and that I would always remain in this one spot. I looked around and I tried to call out but I couldn't even hear my own voice. I could only think these frantic, worrisome thoughts. For days, weeks I was like this. Standing there in a field and I couldn't move. I couldn't believe that I had got to this point. I got so angry I almost knocked myself over. I then found that I could hop around and then suddenly I began to grasp what had happened to me. I had turned into a turnip..._

~ (***) ~

Oranda returned to the same place a few days later. She didn't really see the logic in that but she did as she was told otherwise she wasn't going to get her money or end of the deal. It sounded immoral and everything but what such things existed in this world any more? The Wish-To-Be Prince was grinning in her direction and greeted her rather directly. She liked someone who was to the point and had no tolerance for such pleasantries. Why else would she agree to work with him? Despite the fact why he asked her to do this was because he was behaving like a child who thought he was supposed to get the train set which had been given to someone else.

"Is the dirty deed done?"

She raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. It was a dirty deed, politically speaking. However it didn't exactly mean that she had done anything morally devious. All she did was turn the soppy, little Prince into a scarecrow. Sure, she had damaged his pride in his looks probably but most of them needed to be brought down a peg or two. She glanced across the table knowing she was looking at one of them right now.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Depends on what you would consider the deed done."

He leaned back in his seat with a smile on his face with the shadow of an exhausted sigh. "What did you do?"

She suppressed a laugh knowing that her words had probably caused some horrible, anxious nightmare in his head. He was probably thinking that she had betrayed him. She wouldn't blame him. He could get into a serious trouble with this. The worst which could happen to her was a slap on the head and if they were able to capture her, strip her of her powers. She had heard that happen to some witches and wizards. Only if they had been very naughty. She had to admit, she was bending the rules enough to receive that punishment. But she knew how to disappear if it was required.

She grinned. "I turned him into a scarecrow."

He stopped when he was about to take a sip of his wine and slowly his eyes drifted in her direction again. She could feel the wine hovering on his lips, seductively licking against his lips but he was paying no mind to it. There was a moment of silence where it seemed neither of them were able to say anything until he roared with laughter. She silently sat there with an amused look on her face.

"Oh. That is brilliant. I met him once, before he didn't exactly er...conform to the typical looks of a prince and recently he finally grew into his handsome looks. And now he's been turned into a scarecrow."

She frowned. "It seems that your Majesty is pleased with my performance."

He was more pleased. He was clapping like a little prince who had been amused by a fool's trickery and antics. She was glad that she would not have to be his wife in order to get what she wanted out of this deal. It would be so tiresome being this mere man's-No. Overgrown bots wife. You should never be a boy's wife. You should never be any man's wife. If you could help it.

"Very. I would have preferred for you to kill him. I won't lie but that...But living the rest of this pathetic life in humiliation..." He nodded with approval. "I think that should suffice. In fact I prefer it."

She smiled with a little pang of pride rising in her chest. "Then I am pleased...But I hope you will keep your end of the bargain."

He cocked his head to the side and wiped his mouth in consideration. "I think...You would look rather well on the throne of Fermia..."

~ (***) ~

_'Turnip head' was funnily enough one of my many nicknames which I had inherited as a child when I used to be bullied. It was something to do with my obesity I think. I never really understood that nickname if I'm not be honest. Nothing in my past was ever to make any sense. Nothing about my present was conforming to the fate of a Prince. I couldn't even comprehend what was going to be in my future. When I was standing there for days on end I was finally able to find the time to dwell on my thoughts. I was able to make out why they had been put together in the way that they had done. And not just my thoughts. But my memories. Everything began to make sense. Someone had put an enchantment on me. Then it began to dawn on me as I remembered. I knew it must have been that old woman who did this to me. I went across the countryside from one kingdom to another. It was amazing how much time it took, or how little time it actually took. Soon as time passed I thought I would never be able to shake off this curse that I had on myself. I thought that I would always be like this. Passersby were the only one would be the messengers for any news of what was happening in the world. I soon heard that my brother had went to war with the country who my would-have-been-future-wife was the Princess of. Oh well. Not like that was a great loss anyway..._

~ (***) ~

The King was rocking back and forth in his chair, he thought he was about to start biting his nails like a little girl he was becoming so worried. He was always looking out for his little brother when he was growing up. He was always the one to chase off all the bullies, to pat his shoulder when he walked back to him and find him sniffling. Even their father would torment him, it was a way of toughening him up, he said. He never saw it that way. He had never done anything like this though. He knew his brother would be gone for long but he only expected a few hours. He didn't see him at dinner so he suspected he was still out in the city sulking. Princess Valaeria asked where her uncle was but all her father could do was smile and say that he had work to do. Then it became evening and he suspected he had gone to the taverns and brothels. His brother never did this very often to be honest but there were some moments or when he was going through something difficult when he would visit these places. Not the best of places but he wasn't exactly the persons to judge him for behaviour like that since he was no better. Then the next morning at breakfast he saw that he wasn't back. He couldn't think of any reason why he couldn't be back. He had his soldiers search throughout the city for days and there was no sign of him. He knew he had a bad reaction to the betrothal but he didn't think he would ever take something like this this badly.

Then something occurred to him. What if they knew he was reluctant to marry the Princess? He wouldn't put it past them to have a spy sent here to see what his brothers reaction would be like. Justin was right about one thing the girl was prone to such childish fits it was hard to believe that she was any older than twelve. What if this was just their way to lull him into a false sense of security? Or maybe they would kidnap him and demand something more? Soon he began to openly oppose them and declare heinous crimes against them and one thing led to another. His advisers tried to persuade him to do otherwise since they knew what he was doing. He was trying to get them to declare war on him and not the other way round. After a few months they had enough and they were finally at war. He loved being at war. He had been waiting for a half decent one since he was crowned King. He was a military King. No courtier. No politician. A soldier. Although, in the midst of his plans he found himself missing his brother. He was one of the best military strategist in his cabinet and the only one who he could trust. He had set it as a top priority to find him or find out what happened to him but no one was even able to find a trace. It was like he vanished into thin air...

~ (***) ~

_I had been there for days. Then they turned to weeks. Weeks transpired into months and soon I found myself being in that field for two years. Two years of my life wasted yet, I was able to discover something for myself. Sometimes I think back and I really wonder whether they were really wasted. Maybe they never were. I knew what I wanted. I wanted something different. I wanted someone different. I wanted someone who would love me regardless of my status. I wanted someone who I could bare to be with every single moment of our life together. She would be someone who I wanted to spend all those moments with. Someone I couldn't bare to be without. As I stood there I was beginning to wonder whether I would even have that since I was a scarwcrow. Then Sophie came along and then everything changed for me. She looked at me with a little disdain but she was still willing to stop and talk to me. Despite her dislike of turnips she still liked me. She still showed concern even for a mere scarecrow. That was someone I wanted. Someone who cared about others other than themselves. I followed her and I think as time passed I even began to fall in love with her. When I protected her from danger I almost died but she brought me back with a life saving kiss and I thought she could be my princess but it didn't turn out that way. She had already saved someone else and her in return. I suppose, I would quite like something like that as well..._


End file.
